Transport

Local roads and personal transport

Buenos Aires is based on a rectangular grid pattern, save for natural barriers or the relatively rare developments explicitly designed otherwise (notably, the neighbourhood of Parque Chas). The rectangular grid provides for square blocks named manzanas, with a length of roughly 110 meters. Pedestrian zones in the city centre, like Florida Street are partially car-free and always bustling, access provided by bus and the Metro (subte) Line C. Buenos Aires, for the most part, is a very walkable city and the majority of residents in Buenos Aires use public transport.
Two diagonal avenues in the city centre alleviate traffic and provide better access to Plaza de Mayo. Most avenues running into and out of the city centre are one-way and feature six or more lanes, with computer-controlled green waves to speed up traffic outside of peak times.
The city's principal avenues include the 140-metre (459 ft)-wide 9 de Julio Avenue, the over-35 km (22 mi)-long Rivadavia Avenue and Corrientes Avenue, the main thoroughfare of culture and entertainment.
In the 1940s and 1950s the Avenida General Paz beltway that surrounds the city along its border with Buenos Aires Province and freeways leading to the new international airport and to the northern suburbs heralded a new era in Buenos Aires traffic. Encouraged by pro-automaker policies pursued towards the end of the Perón (1955) and Frondizi administrations (1958-62) in particular, auto sales nationally grew from an average of 30,000 during the 1920-57 era to around 250,000 in the 1970s and over 600,000 in 2008. Today, over 1.8 million vehicles (nearly one-fifth of Argentina's total) are registered in Buenos Aires.
Toll motorways opened in the late 1970s by then-mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore provided fast access to the city centre and are today used by over a million vehicles daily. Cacciatore likewise had financial district streets (roughly one square kilometre in area) closed to private cars during daytime. Most major avenues are, however, gridlocked at peak hours. Following the economic mini-boom of the 1990s, record numbers started commuting by car and congestion increased, as did the time-honored Argentine custom of taking weekends off in the countryside.

Cycling

Cycling around Buenos Aires is becoming trendy. Several bicycle rental businesses offer excursions for locals and visitors throughout the city, generally accompanied by specialized multilingual guides. The tours include the Southern and Northern Circuits, and themed circuits which include literary, historical and cultural, ecologist and even tango related tours or historical tours. For newcomers biking is not recommended on main arteries and thoroughfares because of the heavy traffic.

Local public transport

Commuter rail

The Buenos Aires commuter rail system has seven lines:
Belgrano Norte Line
Belgrano Sur Line
Roca Line
San Martin Line
Sarmiento Line
Mitre Line
Urquiza Line

The Buenos Aires commuter network system is very extensive: every day more than 1.3 million people commute to the Argentine capital. These suburban trains operate between 4 AM and 1 AM. The Buenos Aires railway system also connects the city with long-distance rail to Rosario and Córdoba, among other metropolitan areas. There are four principal stations for both long-distance and local passenger services in the city centre: Plaza Constitucion, Retiro, Federico Lacroze and Once de Septiembre.

Subway

The Buenos Aires Subway (locally known as subte, from "subterráneo" meaning underground or metro), is a high-yield system providing access to various parts of the city. Opened in 1913, it is the oldest subway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in the Spanish-speaking world. The system has six lines, named by letters (A to E, and H) There are 74 stations, and 52.3 km (32 mi) of route. An expansion program is underway to extend existing lines into the outer neighborhoods and add a new north-south line. Route length is expected to reach 89 km (55 mi) by 2011. Line "A" is the oldest one (service opened to public in 1913) and stations kept the "belle-époque" decoration, the trains still sport incandescent-bulb illumination and doors must be manually closed by the passengers, as in 1913. Daily ridership on weekdays is 1.7 million and on the increase. Fares are cheap and are in fact cheaper than the city buses. The Buenos Aires Metro has six lines which also have links to the commuter rail.
Line A - Light Blue: Subte Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro. This historical line runs from Plaza de Mayo to Carabobo and is scheduled to be extended towards Nazca St.
Line B - Red: Line B of the Buenos Aires Metro runs from Leandro N. Alem Station to Los Incas (projected to Villa Urquiza).
Line C - Blue: The Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro runs from Retiro to Constitución terminus, opened on 9 November 1934, 4.4 km (2.7 mi).
Line D - Green: Subte Line D of the Buenos Aires Metro runs from Catedral to Congreso de Tucumán. The D Line opened on 3 June 1937 and has been expanded to the north several times. The line is currently 10.4 km (6.5 mi) long and runs approximately parallel to the Buenos Aires coastline.
Line E - Purple: Subte Line E runs from Bolivar Station to Plaza de los Virreyes, opened on 20 June 1944, currently with 9.2 km (5.7 mi).
Line H - Yellow: Line H runs from Once terminus to Caseros. It is also planned to run from Retiro to Nueva Pompeya once the remaining sections are constructed.

Current renovation and expansion

The subway is currently undergoing renovation and expansion
At Line A two new stations after Carabobo are under construction, being Nazca the new future terminal while newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased demand.
On Line B Since 2004, work began to expand the line to Villa Ortúzar and Villa Urquiza.
On Line H further extensions are planned to run from Retiro to Nueva Pompeya once constructed. It will connect the Southern part of the city with the North, thus improving the flow to the centre of the city, and will be approximately 11 km (6.8 mi) long from end to end. The Line H will provide cross-connections with almost all the other lines.
On Line E work has begun in 2009 to expand the line up to Retiro.

Planned underground lines

New underground lines are planned and were presented by the Government of the City of Buenos Aires on 26 May 2007. There are currently three lines planned:
Line F would join Constitución Station with Plaza Italia and would have an extension of 7.6 km (4.7 mi). It would be transverse-radial, according to the section, with strong integration with the rest of the network.
Line G would connect the Retiro Station with the Cid Campeador and would have a length of 7.6 km (4.7 mi). It would be radial to connect the axes of high-density residential and commercial areas, and would bring the underground to the northwest of the city.
Line I would run from the Emilio Mitre (Line E) Station to Plaza Italia, a distance of 7.3 km (4.5 mi). It would be the outermost transverse line of the network and would link the neighborhoods of the north, center and south of the city and link with the radial lines far from the city centre.

Tramways

Buenos Aires had an extensive street railway (tram) system with over 857 km (533 mi) of track, which was dismantled during the 1960s in favor of bus transportation and is now in the process of a slow comeback. The PreMetro or Line E2 is a 7.4 km (4.6 mi) light rail line that connects with Metro Line E at Plaza de los Virreyes station and runs to General Savio and Centro Cívico. It is operated by Metrovías. The official inauguration took place on 27 August 1987. The cost of building and fitting out the line was USD 5.4 million. An additional USD 4.6 million was allocated to the acquisition of a fleet of 25 light rail vehicles.
A new 2 km (1.2 mi) tramway (LRT), Tranvía del Este, runs across the Puerto Madero district. Extensions planned would link the Retiro and La Boca terminal train stations. Other routes are being studied. A Heritage streetcar maintained by tram fans operates on weekends, near the Primera Junta line A metro station in the Caballito neighbourhood.

Buses

There are over 150 city bus lines called Colectivos, each one managed by an individual company. These compete with each other, and attract exceptionally high use with virtually no public financial support. Their frequency makes them equal to the underground systems of other cities, but buses cover a far wider area than the underground system. Colectivos in Buenos Aires do not have a fixed timetable, but run from 4 to several per hour, depending on the bus line and time of the day. With very cheap tickets and extensive routes, usually no further than four blocks from commuters' residences, the colectivo is the most popular mode of transport around the city. Bus line operators must comply with city regulations on security and pollution control.

Electronic ticketing

Buenos Aires was affected for several years by an acute coin shortage that impacted the economy, banking, and transportation. Coins are still rationed by banks, and a thriving black market has been hoarding to sell coins illegally to retailers. Merchants have been rounding prices up or down according to the amount of change a customer actually has, or bartering, and making up the difference with a menial item.
Argentina's President announced on 4 February 2009 that Buenos Aires would be instituting electronic ticketing for the city's bus system. One of the benefits of this change is that it would help speed passengers on to the bus. People would no longer have to wait to be issued a printed receipt as they each enter the bus. Environmentally this should help reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen because buses will not have to idle as long while passengers load, helping improve air quality in the city. The electronic ticket will eliminate the printed receipts thus lowering the amount of littering in the city. The city, in turn, would no longer have to process, collect, count, and transport coinage received in payment of some 11 million trips per day. The new ticketing system is still on implementing stage.

Taxis

A fleet of 40,000 black-and-yellow taxis ply the streets at all hours. License controls are not enforced rigorously. There have been numerous reports of organized crime controlling the access of taxis to the city airports and other major destinations.[citation needed] Taxi drivers are known for trying to take advantage of tourists. Radio-link companies provide reliable and safe service; many such companies provide incentives for frequent users. Low-fare limo services, known as remises, have become popular in recent years.

Long-distance public transport

High-speed rail

A new high-speed rail line between Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba, with speeds up to 320 km/h is planned.

Long-distance bus terminal

The main terminal for long-distance buses is Retiro bus station, near Retiro railway station, from where buses depart for all parts of Argentina and for neighbouring countries.

Ferries

Buenos Aires is also served by a ferry system operated by the company Buquebus that connects the port of Buenos Aires with the main cities of Uruguay, (Colonia del Sacramento, Montevideo and Punta del Este). More than 2.2 million people per year travel between Argentina and Uruguay with Buquebus. One of these ships is a catamaran, which can reach a top speed of about 80 km/h (50 mph), making it the fastest ferry in the world.

Airports

The Buenos Aires international airport, Ministro Pistarini International Airport, is located in the suburb of Ezeiza and is often called "Ezeiza". The Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport, located in the Palermo district next to the riverbank, serves only domestic traffic and flights to Brasil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. A smaller San Fernando Airport serves only general aviation.